


Born a Spy

by fadedlikethelilac



Series: Master Plan [1]
Category: Neopets
Genre: Archaeology, Childhood, Gen, Growing Up, Language, Legends, Martial Arts, Seasons, Spies & Secret Agents, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 20:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15150812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadedlikethelilac/pseuds/fadedlikethelilac
Summary: Her name was Polynomus, but that's not what she was ever called.In the Winter her name was Katie and she lived in the Altadorian MountiansIn the Autumn her name was Angel and she lived in the Lost DesertIn the Summer her name was Zana and she lived at the Shenkuu Battle school.In the Spring her name was Suzi and she lived on the streets of Shenkuu.





	1. Katie in the Winter

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even now Where to start with this one.  
> First and most importantly the chapters can be read in any order.  
> Each is complete stand alone, but there is a lot of subtext from understanding that these stories belong together and form the origin story my my pet Polynomus. 
> 
> They are posted in the order I originally wrote them, and had them published in the Neopian times.  
> Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Is another good reading order I think. but it should not make a huge difference. 
> 
> Okay So I wrote these a long time ago, about the time I graduated highschool, They probably could be better and there are some things I would change if I wrote them now, but I have decide to leave them in the form they were originally written.

The wind blew. Not hard as such, but persistently. It seemed to suggest that it wouldn’t be stopping any time soon, and I, much to my displeasure, agreed. Winter wasn’t one of my favourite times of the year. I heard a knocking sound. At first I thought it was my imagination, no one ever came to our house in the middle of winter.

I heard the sound again, and at the same time, Sarah called from the kitchen, “Answer the door, could you?”  So it hadn’t been my imagination. 

A small brown Ixi sheltered in our door way, her face turned down. A cloth bundle gripped tightly to her chest.

“Hello,” I said perhaps a little coldly, the wind was blowing cold air and snow across the living room. 

The girl raised her face, her brown eyes meeting mine. “I need help.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Oh, you poor dear,” Sarah was right behind me, “you must be so cold,” She said nudging me to one side and ushering the Ixi into the small room.  

I closed the door and turned to look at the pair, they seemed quite content sitting by the fire.

“Oh my,” I heard Sarah whisper.  The cloth bundle was actually a baby Kacheek, perhaps a month or two old. I didn’t know what to think, babies wasn’t really my area. “Is she yours?” Sarah continued.

The Ixi hung her head sadly, “In a manner of speaking. Her parents are dead,” The girl spoke with a strong shenkuuian ascent, but neither Sarah nor I passed comment.  

“And you would be?” I said roughly interrupting their quiet conversation.  

“Her nurs… Aunt,” the Ixi said,

I was intrigued, but said no more.

“She needs a home,” the girl said, “at least for the next few months.”

Sarah Smiled, “Yes it would be wonderful to have a child in the house.” Her whole face seemed to light up at the thought. 

The Ixi smiled, “Thank you so much you have no idea what this means to me.” 

***

The next two months weren’t the highlight of my life, The Winter was hash, but that was no different from normal. The baby cried, that was new to me, I don’t know how many sleepless nights it cost me. Sarah didn’t mind, in fact she adored the small Kacheek, and I wasn’t going to be the one to spoil her joy. We had no children of our own, and in the winter we were isolated from all those around us. 

The first day of spring, the snow had melted and Sarah and I were preparing to go down to the village a trip of a mere 2 miles that we would never have dared to take in the winter.  Katie, that’s what we had decided to call the baby, was coming as well. She was in a pretty white dress, Sarah had made for her. 

It was Sarah who answered the door when the knocking came. I was busy colleting up all the things we’d made over the winter to sell at the first spring fair.

I heard the small gasp escape her lips, it was mostly shock, but to my keen Gelert ears there was also fear, I put down the basket and headed back to the living room where I could see who had surprised her. 

It was Katie’s Aunt, but she was different now. More relaxed and superior, a dark red dress brushing against the still damp grass. “You’ve come for her, haven’t you?”  I heard Sarah Whisper. 

“Yes” The Brown Ixi said spuriously. 

***

We didn’t go to the village that day. Sarah cried and I did my best to comfort her. Though didn’t understand the loss she was going though.  Katie was gone, and we told ourselves that we’d never see our baby girl again.

We went to the village the next day, by which time the Rumours were everywhere. During the winter there had been a civil war in Shenkuu. The emperor and empress were dead, and their daughter was missing. 

I looked at Sarah the Shock and realization etched across her face. Was our little Katie the missing princess? 

Nine months later our suspicions where confirmed.

***

Winter was setting in again, and Sarah was sad the snowflakes whirling past the window reminded her of Katie, the little Kacheek. That even I still thought of as our daughter.  We wouldn’t be going out again, except to collet fire wood from the wood shed a mere three yards from our door, that winter. 

The knock on the door startled me from my book. Sarah was in the kitchen, immersing herself in cooking, in the hope of drowning the memories.   

I answered the door, and was shocked to see the Ixi standing on our door step and bold as brass, Katie, now a small Royal Kacheek, nursed on her hip.

I was about to close the door in her face, after the heartache she caused Sarah I didn’t want her in our life.  But the Ixi stopped me, “Please,” she whispered “Just let me explain.” 

Sarah was behind me again, she must have heard the noise.  “Let her in,” she said softly. To me it was clear that she was over joined to see our daughter again, but also terrified that she wouldn’t stay. 

***

As Sarah led the Ixi into the kitchen I caught a glimpse of a coach though the whirling snow. Along with the Yurble driver there was also two Draik Guards, I closed the door, still unsure of want to think of this strange Ixi. How dare she show her face here again? But deep down there was a longing let us keep Katie. 

The Ixi was seated at the kitchen table, and Sarah bustled around making tea. I sat opposite eyeing the Girl suspiciously She looked to be about twenty-one at the oldest.

Sarah paced the cups down and sat between us at the small circular table, while the Ixi and I sat on normal quite simple chairs Sarah sat on a small stool, we only had two chairs until today there had never been a reason for more. 

The Ixi passed Katie across to Sarah. Sarah was delighted to be holding our little girl again. The Ixi tried to explain. “I couldn’t let people know that I’d give her to you to look after, in the winter time there’s nowhere safer for her, but for the rest of the year it could be dangerous,” she said a little hesitantly. 

Sarah nodded, it was quite clear to us now that our baby girl was the missing princess.

The Ixi took a sip of her tea before continuing. “I’ve found other people to look after her the rest of the year, more suitable people,” she said, the way she said it was so offensive but Sarah took no notice and I followed suit. “But they are all with company through the winter.” The girl explained.  “I need a home for her though the winter, somewhere where she’ll be safe.” 

I knew she didn’t like it, I didn’t like it, but for her three months a year with Katie seemed worth it. I looked across at Sarah, she nodded. “Okay, I said slowly we’ll look after her.”

The Ixi smiled, “Thank you” she said, then she did something I hadn’t expected, she reached from her pocket and pulled out a purse.

***

Five thousand neopoints! That’s what she’d left us, five thousand and our baby girl. It was mostly silver 200np pieces, but there was some gold glinting in the stacks as well.  “She didn’t need to,” Sarah whispered “we don’t need it and we can’t spend it till the winters over and Katie’s gone.”

“It’s a warning,” I said “and a message, Katie will be back every year, and she will leave with them every year. They’ve got power and neopoints behind them.”

Sarah shrugged, “it’s better than nothing.”

***

We never had children of our own. Katie was enough, the site of her running up the path on the first day of spring always made me smile. Her leaving was always hard but we grew used to it. 

We raised her as best we could, with no idea how she spent the rest of her year. She never when to school when she was with us, but she was bright and I always suspected that the rest of her year was filled with schooling.  We tried to teach her skills that would be useful if she ever when to rule Shenkuu, though we never spoke of the empire. 

The Ixi who we came to know as Aunt Kima, came back every year without fail, bringing with her Katie and a small purse of coins which we always tried and failed to refuse.

***

“DAD” Katie Raced from the coach up the garden path, it was late autumn and the first snows where expected for the next day. She’d grown it into a beautiful Royal girl, of nearly 16 since I last saw her. I held out my arms and we embraced, Sarah was close behind me having dropped everything to come and see our daughter nearly all grown up. 

Katie was filled with joy it seemed, so happy and cheerful the only ray of light though the cold winter. The money Kima kept giving us had turned the house into something closer it a palace. It was still the 3 room cottage it had always been, but in the winter time it was filled with beautiful things. In the spring, after Katie had left, Sarah and I always packed them away again. We didn’t want people the question where the money came from.  A family might be able to afford a pretty vase from the lost desert but they couldn’t afford three and toys from the citadel, a dresser from Neovia it all added up.

***

Her birthday was a grand affair just as it was every year.  We didn’t want to spoil Katie, as much as we would have liked to, it would harm her personality. Normal she’d have a few small gifts from each of us. Often the things where hand made, but this year was different. 

I walked out the wood shed, these days it didn’t just store the firewood we’d need though the winter, in fact the wood was now stored beside the door most of the weather kept off by the eves and an oilcloth covering.  There just wasn’t room in the shed anymore, in the months when Katie wasn’t with us it stored all of her things and treasures we’d collected from her, but even in the winter months the small place was still quite full.

Katie was waiting in the living room, her mother standing in the door to the kitchen watching, as I entered the house again.  Katie Gasped, “You didn’t?” she said with delight as I placed the small petpet in her arms. She giggled softly as the little Biyako wiggled around.

***

In two months, Kina had been back and yet again Katie had been whisked away from us, the following winter she didn’t return. I consoled my wife that Katie would be seventeen now, even though we celebrated her birthday in the middle of winter when she had first come to us, it was probably a month maybe two after her actual birthday. Sarah smiled weakly, “yes you’re right,” she had said she belongs with her people. So when the new reached us the next spring that Shenkuu’s lost princess had returned and its people were rejoicing.  We celebrated also, to think that that fine princess was our little Katie. 


	2. Zana in the Summer

The early summer morning in Shenkuu it would have been perfect but for the crying. Crying? My eyes shot open suddenly fully awake. There shouldn’t be crying! Not here in the tranquil academy. 

I soon found the source of the noise, a small baby Mynci sitting on the stairs leading to the entry hell. I rolled my eyes. A child, just what I needed in my life. All the same I scooped the girl up off the steps and carried her inside. 

My pupils laughed when they saw me carrying her, but one glare silenced them. She was wrapped in a pale blue shawl so I simply placed her on the ground behind me and got on with the lessons. 

***

The two staffs where a blur in the dawn light. So fast that those watching could barely see them.

The Shadow Kacheek took a half step backwards breathing heavily.   

I brought my Jade staff around in a wide slow sweep. Timon, my pupil, actually laughed at the speed of the blow he was used to the fast move strokes that he barely had time to block, but he was getting fasted at blocking them.

He stepped forward again, flicking his stick out to block mine. “Getting tired?” he joked.

My stick hit his and I shot my arm out using his stick as a pivot point, and bring it in a collision course with the back of his knees. It was a move he just didn’t see coming.

“No not really” I replied standing over him. Behind me I heard the baby giggle. I didn’t turn sure we were noble fighters, but everyone knew you took an opening when you got one. 

Timon Smiled slightly, “Fine you win,” he said them added “this time.”

Something hit the back of my knees. Hard. I fell but rolled as I did. My attacker, if that’s what she could be called, was the child. All four of her paws were on the ground supporting her, and her tail was holding the Practice staff nearly twice as long as herself.  

I started laughing less than a second after the Kacheek, and soon the rest of my class was laughing as well, but inside my mind was racing. Maybe having this kid around wasn’t so bad. 

***

I was right, well quite right. Zana, as we called her, turned out to be cheeky and mischievous, but she was talented and she learnt fast. The think I couldn’t believe was that she couldn’t be any more than ten months old. 

As she grew her purple fur became darker, and by the end of the summer I was almost certain that she would grow in to a beautiful shadow Mynci. I was proud of her, but then everything change. Then she came. 

She was standing on my door step one morning a look of hope about her. “They told me you found a baby Mynci?” she said slowly and hopefully. 

My face fell, “yes, Zana has been with us since the start of the summer” I said carefully.

Her eyes brightened as a look of hope spread across her face, “she had a blue blanket with her? And she was about nine months old. I lost her and I’ve been so worried, then this morning someone mentioned that they had seen a very young Mynci training here. Is it true?” she said her words now rushed.

I tried to force a smile it was good that Zana’s mother was here, but so how I couldn’t help feeling say it would have been nice to teach her when she was older. “Yes, would you like to come in?”

I lead the Shadow Ixi through the corridors of the academy. We soon reached my rooms when sitting on the floor was Zana and wooden dagger in her tail, four paws on the ground. I never understood why it was also instinctive for her, she couldn’t really talk, and she could barely walk. Yet she would pick up anything weapon-like and hold it like this as poised to fight. 

Her mother was so thrilled to see her that she barely notice the attack pose, and it wasn’t exactly a common pose, only to an expert was it obvious what the child was doing. The woman swept the child up in her arms, holding her tightly. To me it seemed a little strange that she didn’t notice the dagger.

“Oh Sarah” she scolded “I’ve been so worried about you.” 

***

I place the two cups of green tea on the table one for the Ixi and one for myself.

The Ixi had calmed down now she’d got  _ her little girl  _ back, and she spoke quite calmly. “They said you’d been training her?” she questioned me the second I’d sat down.

“In a manner of speaking,” I replied, “She’s simply too young for any formal training but she picks everything up so fast.”

“Yes, not that I’d know much about that, but her father was a natural,” She replied, brushing a strand of dark hair from her eyes.

“Hmm,” I murmured thinking to myself “where is he now?”

“Umm,” the Ixi stared sadly down at her tea, “he is dead. He died just over a year ago when there was all that unrest in Kinira.”

“Oh,” I said but it meant little to me, “have you thought of enrolling her in an academy?”

She shook her head, “No I’ve never really thought about it, but now I do I doubt I’d be able to afford it.” 

I nodded. Life wasn’t easy in Shenkuu if you were on your only, especially with a small child. “We could take her?” I offered it would be an honour to teach one so talented.

She seemed startled by the suggestion. “Take her?” she said, “but I’ve only just got her back, I know things are going to be hard but we’ll manage.”

I swallowed, I shouldn’t have even tried now, and it wasn’t as if the child would even be ready to learn much in the next six months. “I’m sorry you right, I shouldn’t have even asked.” I said a touch sadly. I had grown to like Zana over the summer. 

The Ixi was thoughtful for a moment. “It would be wrong of me to rob her of such an opportunity,” she said slowly.

I, also slowly, nodded my head. “I could simply teacher for the summer,” I offered, “that way she wouldn’t even miss any school.”

She smiled. “Sounds like a good idea,” she said.

I also smiled, “I’ll see you in nine months then.”

***

The sun just as bright, if not brighter than the day before shone down upon the mountains of Shenkuu. I’d been up at dawn with my pupils, racing the sun, as they called it. It was one of the few exercises we did, that didn’t involve fighting. It was also one of the few that my pupils had any chance of beating me at. I pushed my legs harder I could see the academy about two hundred meters away. 

Behind me I could hear Timon breathing. Not heavily though, he wasn’t anywhere near exhorted. The Shadow Kacheek had been working on his fitness since the last summer. I can’t say I was happy that he was likely to be able to beat me by the end of the summer, but I was proud. Besides he wasn’t going to win today. I passed though the arch first, Timon less than two meters behind me.  

I sat on the bench Timon sitting at my feet, as the other pupils crossed of final line and slowed. Quite a few of them were gathering around Timon awed by his performance. So was I it wasn’t often a twelve year old came close to beating me. Even so I wasn’t going to let the kid get a big head. 

“Sensei!” A small dark blur raced towards me. Zana buried herself in my fur. “It’s good to be home she whispered. 

***

Timon and Zana Didn’t really getting along at first, mostly it was because of Timon. He resented the amount of time I spent with her, bending to the stereotypical view that a girl would never make a decent fighter. That changed when he turned eighteen. 

My pupils were my pupils until they turned eighteen. After that they were their own masters. They make their own decisions, could move away from the academy, if they wished, take on contracts and the like. It was traditional that when they turned eighteen, they would stand in the centre of the court yard and call for any challenges. It didn’t matter the outcome, unless said student managed to get himself badly injured, but it was said to be the last time for childish revenge, one last play fight before the real world. Not that it was but it was… well traditional.    

***

“Is there anyone else?” Timon called from the centre of the court yard. The other children where gathered thickly around the edge, a few whispering or shoving one another in an attempt to get someone to challenging him. He’d already defeated three of the older boys, back for what they thought of as pay back, sadly all three had been beaten.  

Internally I signed. It was rare, very rare for a pupil to leave without been defeated at his graduation. It really wouldn’t do to let him leave with a big head, but it also wouldn’t do any good for me to challenge him. Of cause I would beat him easily, but that wasn’t the point. 

“I’ll Challenge you,” The voice was feminine, and a lot of heads turned. It could only be Zana. Few of them had fought her before. She was perhaps a little timid, and certainly didn’t boast about her skill.

A few of the older boy laughed, Timon joined in. She was only nine, what hope did she have against an eighteen year old master. 

“Are you sure?” Timon asked Gold Handled Katana gripped tightly in one hand.

“Yes, I’m sure” she said confidently as she emerged from the crowed, Night Katana gripped in one hand.

The whispering started. It was rare for a student to choose the Night Katana as there first choice weapon. I only knew of one other that would use it as their first preference. The strangeness of the situation was added to by the weapon Timon was using. 

“Very well then,” Timon said bowing. Zana returned the bow. The gong was rung. Blades flashed. I watched impressed despite the situation, my two finest pupils fighting each other. The blades flashed in the noon light one gleamed a bright gold, and the other dark silver.

As the battle wore on into the morning, my other pupils grew tired. I was surprized when I noticed several of them slip away, they’d missed breakfast and the battle wasn’t all the exiting, Zana seemed to be fighting an entirely defensive batter. That puzzled me, I knew exactly how good she was and I’d never seen her fight in such a manner before. 

It was about two hours after the fight had begun when the final group left, anointed they’d missed all their morning for nothing and desperate not to miss lunch as well, they could always come back afterwards neither of the two seemed to be getting anywhere.  It was then that the banter started, until that moment both had fought in complete silence except for the clash of blades. 

It was Timon that started it. “Getting tired?” he called mockingly.

“No not really,” Zana replied swing the sword around and bringing it around to lock with his.

“You can’t be trying to make me grow complacent with fatigue?” he said questioningly his blade easily deflecting hers.

“No,” she said, her blade shotting around at eye blurring speed. 

He caught the blade with his own, concentrating on the fight now, and caught her left and as it moved to strike him. “Do you really think you can win that way?” he asked

She shrugged stepping forward, and Timon fell falling over her tail. She held her blade inches from his face. “I just didn’t want to beat you in front of all you little followers,” she lowered the blade and stepped back, still wary.

Timon stared at her enraged, and then the anger faded to the laugh that filled the yard, “You don’t fight badly,” he said, adding “for a girl.” 

She laughed, “Not angry then?” She said offering her hand for him to stand up.

He took it, and I applauded. ”Beautiful, now please tell you you’ll stop fighting so we can get some food while there’s still some left?” I asked with a touch of sarcasm. 

Timon laughed, “Okay this little minx has proved her point and had the decency to do it without a crowd watching.”

After that the two of them were friends, at least for the next seven years they were friends. Zana left on her seventeenth birthday, the last day of summer. I never saw the Shadow Mynci again.


	3. Angel in the Autmn

Sandstorms, they weren’t really a problem, not here in the lost desert. Here they were a regular autumn occurrence, but some people could be so stupid. Some people would walk in the desert when they didn’t know the weather. Some people didn’t realise the winds had changed until it was too late. And here in the centre of the lost desert, some people died. My sister was one of the lucky ones, she didn’t die.

“Saire You idiot,” I raged shaking her by the shoulders, “You grew up here. How could you forget this stuff?”  My rage was subsiding now, being replaced with an uncertain hollowness. “You could have died.” My voice trailing off at the end as the tears started rolling down my face.

Saire smiled weakly, her Ixi features moving about her face.  “Sorry I just had to find you there wasn’t time,” she said softly.

I allowed my head to drop even further. Saire always had been impatient, that was just part of who she was. If she thought she could make it before the storm hit she would try. Do or die. That was just her way there was little point in trying to change her, especially now. I hadn’t even seen her in six years. She’d moved away right after our parents died. She couldn’t stay she’d said. Running from the problem, that was how she’d always dealt with things.

I’d stayed. I had finished what my parents had started, and now I was a highly regarded archaeologist and an expert in ancient languages, at least that’s how I viewed myself. Tabari, my current employer, wasn’t as convinced.  

There was something else that was bothering me, aside from the fact that Saire had just turned up here after six years without so much as an explanation, but she’d also come with a small child. A baby kougra it’s stripes already turning the blue of the desert, she must have been nearly a year old. I couldn’t understand it. Why was she here? She couldn’t possibly be Saire’s daughter, could she?

“She’s not mine if that’s what you’re thinking,” Saire said, apparently reading my mind.

I smiled. As different as we were, we did know each other inside out. We were twins after all. “I didn’t think she could be,” I answered, “but what I want to know is, if she’s not yours then why is she here with you?” 

Saire shook herself free from my grip and glanced across at the child. “Her real parents are dead,” she answered simply, “I need to find somewhere for her to stay.” 

My eyes widened in surprize, “and you thought of me?” I asked. Saire of all people should know that I wasn’t good with children.

Saire shifted a little uncertainly, “You’re the only person I can ask, it’d only be for three months a year. My boss says he’s found somewhere for her to stay the rest of the time.”

I looked into her dark eyes, and knew I that could not say no. I disliked the idea of having a small child to look after, but I knew I had no other choice. I nodded, “Of cause,” I said, and that was the beginning of the nightmare.

***

Angel-site. That was what I called her. I didn’t know her actual name. Saire hadn’t even bothered to tell me. I was annoyed to say the least. Angelsite, a bit of a pun I know, for those that aren’t geologists, Anglesite is a rare type of crystal, with a high lead content, and it is very brittle. My niece, I’d already decided that she must be, and it was easier to think of it that way, wasn’t brittle to say the least, and she certainly wasn’t an angel either. 

Angel was always under foot, always in my way, and always playing with things she shouldn’t be. Surely a one year old Kougra cub couldn’t cause this much trouble. Not that I would know, I’d never had any kids of my own, but I persisted. I worked long hours into the night, after I’d put her to bed, trying to translate the ancient Geb tiles. 

It had been one such night. A pile a books of my desk along with about half a dozen stone tiles with the hieroglyphs that I was I was trying to identify and translate. The Characters looked like Geb, the same stroke shapes, but the letters were different. They didn’t match any of the Geb Hieroglyphs I’d ever seen before. Nor were they in any of the many books on Geb that I had. I had already put Angel to bed but she just wouldn’t stay there, she kept coming out again, and repeating ‘Trick trick’. 

Okay that’s not quite right. The word was said in Old Qasalan and ‘trick’ is the simplified translation and I don’t want to go into details about this particular word, it holds too many bad memories.  I don’t know where she had picked the word up, but she had been repeating in constantly ever since I started trying to work out these tiles. 

I sighed, and picked the cub up, to put her to bed once again. But she struggled in my grip and dropped to the floor. She moved across to my work desk before I could stop her, clumsy paws reaching for a tile. I caught her before she could pick it up. I glanced down at the Tile, my mind far from the job at hand, and gasped. 

The Character on the tile was ‘Trick’ written in Old Qasalan.  That didn’t make sense the strokes matched that of Geb. The tile was from a Gebmid. So why was the letter in Old Qasalan? At the same moment of joy at the realization, the fear and sadness also came flooding back. I had been thinking about it before, but in a detached way. Now they hit me. The memories I always tried to forget.

This character was written on my parents’ grave, if you can call it a grave. We couldn’t get the stone off of their bodies.

In Old Qasalan the world was a combination of, look out, a mocking joke, and rest in peace. The character was all over the Old Qasalan tomes. It was Placed sometimes to warm people of the traps, or to mock them once they had fallen for the traps, though occasionally you’d see it on tome stones when there was no trap at all. All you could be sure of was that it was always found in tomes or ancient treasure rooms. 

I managed to force a smile back onto my face. I couldn’t go thinking about that now. This word wasn’t responsible for their deaths. It merely could have saved them if they’d known what it meant. 

“Yes Angel, Trick,” I said softly, “you’re right, but aunty needs to work now. So please stay in bed.”

The little cub looked up at me with her bright blue eyes. Looking into my own golden eyes as though trying to work out what was happening. She didn’t speak she just nodded her head once.

I smiled and returned to my work desk. The tiles were all in old Qasalan. They were so easy for me to read, now I knew what I was looking at.

* * *

It’s possible that I was a little sad when Saire Came for Angel, but mostly I was glad to get back to my work. We were making ground breaking discoveries with this tome. It was unbelievable it held the starting point of the written languages of Qasala as well as artefacts, and history. Not to mention the treasure we would find if we could make it to the inner area’s without getting caught by booby-traps. That was the thing about Geb tomes. It could take months sometimes years to reach the inner sanctums without getting killed. 

Even so I couldn’t help thinking that I wouldn’t have worked it out if it wasn’t for the little cub.  Why had she been screaming that word? She seemed to have a gift for languages, and she was hardly even speaking yet.

* * *

When she returned the next autumn realised that I was right. She was a natural, picking up the languages just by watching and listening. By the time Angel was six she could: read ancient Geb, a language long gone; Read and speak old Qasalan, now evolved into the two modern dialects, and speak both dialects of Qasalan as well as a few words of common Sakhmetian. I hadn’t taught her to read the ancient languages, she’d just picked them up, but now she was older, about six and a half, I thought it would be a good Idea to start teaching her to read and write the modern dialects. I was amazed to discover just how quickly she learned, when she was actually taught. 

When she was older, I started taking her with me to the digging sites. We would work together out there till lunch time, before returning home for the hottest part of the day. 

* * *

I loved Angel like the daughter that I had never had, but it wasn’t until she was sixteen and a half that I realized just how little I knew about the girl. Tabari had moved west exploring the new tomes littered across that part of the lost desert. Angel and I had also moved, we worked together to translate the hieroglyphs. By now our reputation was without rival. I was sad when Angel left each year, but I always pushed the thought to the back of my mind that one day she would leave, and not return. When she returned the spring after her sixteenth birthday, we were working on a tome in Hibivaea. Hibivaea was one of the many hundreds of kingdoms west of Qasala, it also bordered on Altador. For this reason for many of the diggers the preferred languor was Altadorian rather than the western Qasalan, that Angel and I both spoke. At first it didn’t seem like a problem, as nearly all of them also spoke western Qasalan and a few even spoke eastern Qasalan as well, but I was wrong. 

“Μην ανησυχείτε, αυτό το κορίτσι δεν μας καταλαβαίνουν,” one of the Lupe diggers commented to his friends, as I passed them. He glanced over at me and gave a huge grin which turn into a laugh when he saw my puzzled expresion. I decided that I probably shouldn’t let things like that, just pass. I had to learn Altadorian, and fast. 

So That afternoon, Rather that study the heiroglyphs, Angel and I Tried to learn Altorian. Or at least I tried, Angel just picked it up like any other language she knew, but she was reluctant to speak much she just contented herself with writting it. “I will only confuse you more,” she said laughing when I asked her to help me, or at the very least speak it a little as well.   

* * *

“Κατανόηση μας ακόμα; Μαλάκας.” The Lupe called as we walked past them the next morning. Understand us, I could pick up, as for the rest or what to respond with, I didn’t have the faintest idea.  

“Ναι, μπορείτε ηλίθιο άνθρωπο.”  Angel Shouted back without hesitation, “Έχετε κάποιο πρόβλημα με αυτό;” To me it seemed like a reflex reaction rather than her actually thinking and translating what she actually wanted to say. 

I don’t have a clue what she had said a few words stood out like yes, and you, but other than that I had no idea what she had said. It didn’t matter. The men didn’t notice that I was still in the dark. They said nothing and turn back to their work, and I had little interest in them I had noticed something much more obvious in what Angel had said. 

When she talked to me, she always had a floorless Qasalan accent, yet when she had spoken Altadorian she had done so perfectly, and without such an accent. 

“You speak Altadorian?” I asked as we entered our onsite tent where we spent most the morning working unless Tabari, now quite famous in the Archaeology world, wanted us to look at anything in particular. 

“Yeah,” she said shrugging “I’ve been able to speak it as long as I can remember, same as old, eastern and western Qasalan” she continued as if it was not big deal that a girl of sixteen could speak four languages as well as read countless dead ones.

Intrigued I had to ask, “Do you speak anything else?”  I asked casually, as though it was no big deal.

“Just Shenkuuian, and standard Neopian.” She said again as if they meant nothing.

“Why so many?” I asked, but she didn’t get a change to answer because at that moment Tabari came rushing in. 

“We’ve got the next door open,” he called excitedly, and off we went again digging through old treasure, and translating warnings.  That was our life, my life.

* * *

“I know I don’t normally give you presents,” I said pulling a small black box from my pocket. We were back at my house waiting for Saire she’d be here soon. “But I’m sure you’ve just turned sixteen and I’d like you to have this,” I said handing her the box.

She opened it and laughed, pulling out the gold charm bracelet with a single charm on it, a gold letter. “Trick,” she whispered, looking down at it. 

Saire arrived less than an hour later. She left, taking Angel with her. The girl never returned. I would miss her, just like I missed Saire the day she left twenty or so years ago. The pain will always be with me. The pain that I could have had a daughter, and didn’t, the pain that I let Saire take my niece away. 


	4. Suzi in the Spring

My name is pronounced Da-re, or at least it was. These days everyone calls me Dare. It was Kisa that started it. I’m sure the Cybunny didn’t mean any harm, besides the name fits, even if I say so myself. 

I’m a dare devil. I’m the leader of the Poison Blade, the six teenagers that are terrors of Shenkuu.  They are my friends, my allies. There’s Kisa. It’s this quiet blue Cybunny that holds the group together. Then Mink next I guess. Mink is interesting because he’s so quiet, but he is smart, very smart. Not in the same way that I am, but useful all the same. In all honesty I much prefer the company of the twins. They are Myncis same as me. Obayana is fire coloured, and Borak is electric. I’m Shadow. Then lastly there’s her, the infamous sixth member of our little gang. Suzi though the name doesn’t fit her.

She turned up during the spring. She’s like that sometimes we see her. Often we don’t. She’s like a ghost, a remnant of a legend long forgotten.  All I know is that we only ever see her when the air is heavy with the scent of cherry blossoms.

I wasn’t sure about her, perhaps I was glad of her strange manor, because while I accepted and I enjoyed her company, she was also a threat to me.  She, like me, and all the others, had been there since the start, half a lifetime ago: The twins stealing just to eat; the scholar’s son bored of it all; the curious little girl; the smart dare devil; and a ghost. Somehow we’d all come together.

There was no doubt in my mind, that if I hadn’t been our group’s leader, she would have been. As it was, it was only because of her sketchy presence that she hadn’t already taken my role. In short I was wary of her. 

* * *

We were waiting together, the five of us, wondering if Suzi would show up on this spring morning. Personally I had my doubts, or perhaps hopes, but I would wait. I wouldn’t let the other see my fears. We were at the bottom of a cliff towards the edge of the Imperial city of Shenkuu. I heard Kisa gasp, and glanced over. She was there, Suzi. She was just standing next to Kisa as though she had appeared from nowhere. My best guess was that she’d climbed down the cliff, but the rope and grapping hook that were tied across her back where unused. I was impressed to say the least, but I didn’t let it show. 

“You’re late,” I said gruffly, something approaching annoyance on my voice. 

The girl shrugged. “I told you I had to study,” she said.

That was the excuse she always used, I just didn’t get it.  Why was she always claiming that she was busy, and with study of all things? To me it made no sense. 

I stayed silent, simply staring at her. Eventually I spoke, slowly though, drawing out my words. “It seems to me,” I said, “That you spend all your time studying. You never seem to do anything else.”

The silence stretched out between us, taught like a wire as Suzi stared coldly back at me.

It was Kisa that broke the silence. “Come on guys,” she said. I glared at her but the Cybunny didn’t even flinch. “You said yourself she was late. So why are we wasting even more time now?” she said posing the question.

“Okay then, let’s go.”  I leaped, scrabbling up to the nearest roof top. Welcome to the city of Shenkuu, this is where I live. The low peeked rooves were perfect for climbing, and running across. For the Poison blade this was the only way to travel. The rest of them followed me.  

Eventually I stopped, the others also stopping. The looked at me expectantly, but remained quiet, knowing that I would tell them what we were doing soon enough. They would wait for me to speak, and I enjoy the presentation, but If I couldn’t get this right… I didn’t bother to finish the thought, I wouldn’t get it wrong. I stood next to the skylight, waited a moment and then started. 

“This,” I said tapping the skylight, “Is the national Shenkuu museum. It’s closed at the moment, a new exhibit had to be set up and others moved.” I tapped to glass again, liking the effect it caused. “As you can see, the new exhibit has been set up. The workmen have left this area, but the museum is still closed so there aren’t any visitors either.” I allowed a sly smile to cross my face. “So, who wants to check out the new exhibit with me?”

And that was what most people missed about me. Sure I’m a dare devil. Sure, I do some really crazy stuff sometimes, but I also think about it. Today was the perfect do to break into the museum, a day earlier and there would have been workmen everywhere a day later would have been impossible because the museum would be open. I’m not just an idiot.

Suzie smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

Inside I congratulated myself. Suzie was always the first to pick holes in my plan, so if she couldn’t see anything wrong with it, there probably wasn’t.

Suzie and the twins moved forward, preparing to enter the museum. I moved to the side slightly.

Kisa and Mink hung back a little way, and I joined them, as much as I hated to admit it, Borak and Obayana really didn’t need any help. They were far better climbers than me, and Borak’s skill with locks was at least as good as mine.  

Mink looked kind of excited, in a quiet nervous sort of way. I think he might have just been exited to see the exhibit. Kisa stood next to him. I don’t think she cared much for this kind of thing, but she tagged along, they both did. I never once thought that they might ever betray us.

I turned my attention back to the twins, and Suzi. They were already inside and she had just secured the grabbling hook. 

I smiled, “Let’s go.”

I heard Suzi gasp as our eyes adapted to the gloom. I smiled secretly pleased that I had impressed even her with this one. The room was dedicated to the legend of the Katana twins. A legend every child in Shenkuu knew. 

A smile crossed my face as I heard talking. Mink more accurately, he was reading aloud. He was reading out the old legend. Only Mink would break into a museum, and then read the old legend we all already knew. 

I turned my attention back to Suzi. She was staring in awe at the Night Katana, the one, that legend said, Princess Amaya forged herself.  The said she forged it in the black of night. She forged in in secret, just as she gathered supporters in secret, all to usurp her twin brother the Prince Kane.

I picked up the Gold handed Katana, marvelling at its beauty. This Katana had been forged by the young prince Kane in the palace forge. It was his first and only work. 

I turned the face Suzi, the Katana still held in my hand.   

She turned to face me. Her hands also gripped a Katana. 

She held the Night Katana, the one originally forged by the sister. I couldn’t remember where it had been forged, some village blacksmith’s probably. 

Legend said that, while the night Katana had been forged with inferior metals, it was on the same level as the gold handled Katana. They said that if Amaya had of had the resources of her brother, the sword of simple dark iron would have been far superior to his own creation in gold, and steel.

The legend also said that Amaya had been better with her sword, a better fighter. 

Suzi wasn’t a better fighter than me. I lunged, half in play, half with complete seriousness. Today I would prove that I was the rightful leader for the Poison Blade.

Gold flashed through the air as I swung the Katana. Even faster, silverly black blocked the stroke.  So she knew how to us a katana and she had good reflexes. I circled looking for another opening. 

That fight didn’t end well for me. She never cut me, every stoke she made was controlled, careful and deliberate. Eventually the Gold handled Katana slipped from my fingers. I sagged to my knees. Who was this girl? I asked that question more then, than I ever had before. But even now I still don’t know the answer.

I said the only words I could think of. “Join me,” they were the words the young prince had said to his sister, but that wasn’t why I said them.

“No,” her words cut, “I will not lead your armies. I would rather see the kingdom divided then let you lead it into ruin.”

I froze. She wasn’t talking about us. She was talking about the twins, the legend. She was talking as though she was Amaya but that wasn’t how the legend went. 

My mind raced. She used the Katana so well… she had to have been trained as a samurai that was the only answer. That at least would explain her reactions, at as a samurai, even a student she would know the legends better than most…

But that was it wasn’t it… This legend had a special meaning to her. This game we were playing wasn’t a game to her. I gave up, I had no idea how to respond, how to break the spell. 

“Find,” I said, “You lead the Poison Blade.”

Suzi looked at me. Suddenly back in reality. She laughed. “No, I’m good.”

I rolled my eyes. At least that was sorted out, but the others would always know I wasn’t the leader because I was strongest, but because she choose to let me lead.

“Oi, What are you kids doing in here?” a Red Skieth loomed over us.  

We scattered. Obayana and Borak were the first though the Skylight, mostly because they didn’t even need to use the rope. Mink and Kisa where the first up the rope, actually they were the only ones to use the rope. I used it a little, and Suzi just jumped. Orgins have it lucky in that respect.

Kisa grabbed the rope and we sprinted. It was unlikely that the guard would catch us, but we wouldn’t stop until we knew that we were safe. 

At the cliff face we started to climb. We all knew where we were going and we had run like this, thousands of times before. 

The twins raced ahead going up the vertical slop as though it were flat. They would let us know if there were any guards waiting to ambush us. It was unlikely but it had happened on more than one occasion. 

Next in line came Kisa and Mink, they were possibly the weakest links in the group, at least when it came to this kind of thing. They had their uses, which made up for the fact that without the grabbling hook they could never climb the sheer slop. 

Last was Suzi and myself, our previous fight forgotten. We both still gripped the Katana. I doubted that the museum had had the originals out on display like that, but both were still good weapons. Again, one fat Skieth wasn’t going to chaise us. The place and city guard on the other hand… Let’s just say we didn’t much like them and the feeling was mutual.

Eventually we made it to the meadow, a high plateau which no one outside our little group hand ever found, at least not to our knowledge. 

I watched Suzi drop to the grass, a smile on her face. 

“Fun?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

The silent stretched out. The other four had wondered off, Mink and Kisa sitting together, Obayana and Borak messing around in a tree. It was peaceful. 

“Look about earlier…” Suzi said breaking the silence. 

“Forget about it.”

“No, this is important.” She looked down. “I… I got distracted, I wasn’t thinking.”

“No. I challenged you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I should have let you win.”

I had to ask. “You’ve been trained as a samurai?”

The girl looked surprized, but she must have known I’d guess. She stayed quiet, seeming to think of an answer.

“You don’t have to tell me. We’re the Poison Blade. These people are my family, but I don’t think I know a single thing from before about any of them. We don’t ask questions.”

“Yeah,” She said, to this day I don’t know if the response was to my question or my comment. I didn’t ask.

That was the last time I ever saw Suzi. She didn’t appear at all the following spring, and we didn’t even look for her the one after that.

I feel I should tell you that the Poison Blade continued on… We did for a few more years at least. But it didn’t have a happy ending. So I’ll End my story here, because it’s the happiest time to end.


End file.
